Joshi Neeraj, Biswas Joyshree, Nath C, Singh Sarika
Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease, Department of Biological Sciences, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Mol Neurobiol. 2015 Aug;52(1):330-40. doi: 10.1007/s12035-014-8865-8. Epub 2014 Aug 27.
Melatonin treatment showed a potent neuroprotective action in experimental models and in clinical studies. However, the entire disease prevention is not observed with melatonin treatment. Therefore, findings have suggested its future use in combination therapies for neurological diseases. Several studies have showed its free radical scavenging, antioxidant property, antiapoptotic activity, and its action towards enhanced mitochondrial function. It has direct and indirect effects on mitochondrial functions. Neurodegenerative disease pathology includes the impaired mitochondrial functions and apoptotic death of neurons due to energy crisis which could be prevented with antiapoptotic activity of melatonin. However, for the therapeutic use of melatonin, researchers also need to pay attention towards the various intermediary events taking place in apoptotic death of neurons during disease pathology. Age-related neurological diseases include the decreased level of melatonin in neuronal death. Therefore, it is worthwhile to discuss about the different functions of melatonin in aspect of its antioxidative property, its role in the enhancement of mitochondrial function, and its antiapoptotic attributes. This review summarizes the reports to date showing the potent role of melatonin in experimental models and clinical trials and discussing the employment of melatonin as future potent neuroprotective agent.
褪黑素治疗在实验模型和临床研究中显示出强大的神经保护作用。然而，褪黑素治疗并不能预防所有疾病。因此，研究结果表明其未来可用于神经疾病的联合治疗。多项研究表明，褪黑素具有清除自由基、抗氧化、抗凋亡活性以及增强线粒体功能的作用。它对线粒体功能有直接和间接影响。神经退行性疾病的病理包括线粒体功能受损以及由于能量危机导致的神经元凋亡性死亡，而褪黑素的抗凋亡活性可以预防这种情况。然而，对于褪黑素的治疗应用，研究人员还需要关注疾病病理过程中神经元凋亡性死亡所发生的各种中间事件。与年龄相关的神经疾病包括神经元死亡时褪黑素水平降低。因此，从褪黑素的抗氧化特性、其在增强线粒体功能中的作用以及其抗凋亡属性方面来讨论褪黑素的不同功能是很有价值的。这篇综述总结了迄今为止的报告，展示了褪黑素在实验模型和临床试验中的强大作用，并讨论了褪黑素作为未来强大神经保护剂的应用。
